Writing Guidelines
To Submit Content to us, please read this page in it's entirety so that you can understand the guidelines, terms and conditions of your submission.
Here’s how it works
- You write an article or listicle with a minimum of 500 words. Listicles should have a minimum of 30 words per list item plus an intro paragraph and a closing paragraph. Recipes and Crafts may contain fewer words but should include images or video.
- Send it in, and if we decide to publish it, we add your name and website and/or facebook page (or other social media site) to the article to give you credit for the content.
- If we don’t think it is something our readers will love, we will let you know and you can give it another shot.
Writing Guide
In order for your submission to have the best chances of being published, please read this guide to help you understand the content we wish to present to our readers.
Informational Content
When submitting content, it is best to choose a topic which you have expertise and sources to backup any facts. You may include personal opinion or experience provided it is stated that way.
Our Readers Love Lists
Listicles are an extremely popular way of presenting content to our readers. Lists tend to keep readers engaged and interested. Consider whether your content should be written as an article or list. For example, if you have insider tips on the best hotels in NYC for New Years, it would very likely be better written as a listicle presented as "Top 10 hotels in NYC for New Years" in order to engage more readers.
Personal Stories and Hometown Content
Everyone loves a good story. Share your holiday stories, news about an exciting event in your hometown, or stories about holidays celebrations.
Popular Content
The most popular content on our site varies by holiday season and country. When submitting content, it is best to choose a topic for an upcoming holiday or major event. The best time to submit holiday articles are 2-4 months prior to the holiday. For example, please do not submit new years articles in April.
Images
If you have your own images that you took with your own camera and you own the copyrights to the images, you can include them with the submission. Images must be high quality and by submitting them you are granting HolidaySmart full rights to use the images on HolidaySmart.com, any of our social media platforms and other media associate with our website or content with no time restriction.
If you have images that link back to a page you are writing about, social media image or youtube video, just include the URL of the picture or video and our editors will check them out for inclusion.
We will not accept submitted images from other sources that do not include a link to the source, credits for the owner of the image and authorization to use the images. Don’t worry, if you do not have the images, our editors will add images from one of our image partners.
The Rules
Our Rules are simple.
- Just submit your own unique content that you think others will love to read or know.
- Do not submit someone else’s work or work that you have posted on another website. Our editors will check your content against what exists on the web for copyright infringement and we will not accept content that does not pass our stringent search.
- If you are citing sources, use quality sources where the facts can be verified.
- If you are including links, understand that we hold the right to remove any links from your article or content. Writers receiving payment from businesses for links in our content is strictly forbidden.
- Do not submit false or misleading information.
- All submission should be between 500 - 1500 words using a high standard of English grammar.
- No profanity (unless it is a quote from a source, in which case we will obscure parts of the words).
- No porn.
- No haters or trolls. Do not submit content that is meant to deliberately antagonize, attack or hurt others.
- No outgoing links behind keywords or other spammy practices.
- All content you submit you grant full rights for HolidaySmart to use, post, re-post and utilize the content on all HolidaySmart platforms forever.
- Holiday Smart will retain canonical right to the content.
- You agree not to repost or re-spin any articles that you submit that is published on HolidaySmart.
If you submit content, please note that we try to respond within 2 weeks. However, if you do not hear from us within 30 days, then you can assume that we will not be publishing your content as submitted. You can re-submit re-worked content after checking the reasons that you may not have been published below and correcting/ re-working the content, but there is no guarantee of acceptance. We will not negotiate or discuss rejected submissions. We simply ask that you read through these guidelines in order for the best chances of being published.
Reasons we may not publish your submissions:
- Similar posts elsewhere on the web
- Content is not unique
- Subject is already covered on this site
- Not enticing enough to excite readers
- Too many errors
- Poor grammar
- Spammy practices or too many outgoing links
- No sources provided for factual content
- Wrong time of year for submission
- Defaming Remarks or Opinions
- Talking down to readers
- Plagiarism
- Spam - too many submissions in one day or week. Please limit your submissions to 5 per week.
